The Fubon Braves on Thursday clinched the Super Basketball League (SBL) title in a four-game sweep after defeating Taiwan Beer 103-91 at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, as the team celebrate their first-ever championship trophy.
It was not an easy task, as Taiwan Beer have played in six finals in the SBL’s 16-year history, winning four in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2016.
Following their victory, Fubon Braves owner Chris Tsai announced that he would disburse more than NT$10 million (US$323,018) in bonuses and rewards to players and staff for their season-long effort.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“This is our team’s first championship, we are proud of this accomplishment,” Tsai said. “It will give us the will and energy to bolster Taiwan’s basketball environment, and we hope to win more titles in the coming years.”
Tsai added that he had not slept well in the past week due to the pressure and travel to Kaohsiung, but the burden has been lifted, and he now feels elated.
Team officials also announced that the team would go to Hawaii for a year-end vacation, a decision reached after a player vote.
The finals series started on Saturday last week in Kaohsiung, with Fubon edging Taiwan Beer 85-83 in a thrilling finish, followed by a more decisive 83-78 triumph on Sunday.
Riding their momentum and a return home to New Taipei City, the Braves on Tuesday beat Taiwan Beer 87-78, then blasted past the century mark for a 12-point margin of victory on Thursday for the title.
In Game 4, US-born Belizean forward Charles Garcia posted a double-double with 37 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Joseph Lin, younger brother of NBA star Jeremy Lin, netted the team’s second-highest at 17 points.
Four of their teammates also scored in double digits, including US forward Tony Mitchell with 12 points and seven rebounds, and guard Lai Ting-en with 12 points and five rebounds from the bench.
Head coach Hsu Chin-che said that his players had learned from past mistakes and stayed focused.
“Even when we led the series, we continued to concentrate and battled on to prevent a reversal... I want this team to stay together. We can win more titles,” he said.
Garcia was named finals MVP after averaging 22.4 points throughout the series.
“This is the first championship trophy in my career and it is the best gift for myself. It’s been a fantastic year with the birth of my daughter, together with the title and the finals MVP,” Garcia said. “Hsu is a great head coach; I want to play for his team wherever he goes in the future.”
Jeremy Lin congratulated his brother on Instagram.
“Congrats on the championship!! SOOO proud of my lil bro!” he wrote. “Came into the SBL as a 140lb undersized college grad but kept working amidst the doubt and criticism. Always being labeled ‘Jeremys little brother.’ But God has truly blessed you so much over these four years: 4x All Star, 2x SBL Assist Leader, Rookie of the Year, First Team All League and now CHAMPION!!”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier